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Barbara Sansoni is a Sri Lankan designer with an international reputation for her exquisite woven textiles. She has also made a significant contribution as a colour theorist and as an artist amassing a lifetime of documentary portraiture and drawings recording vernacular architectural detail.

Now in her late eighties, Barbara splits her time between Sri Lanka, Cambridge and Australia. Her design relationship with Australia is possibly best represented by a collection of designs for native soft animals. The designs are cleverly observed, beautifully crafted and intricately constructed from the handloom cottons that have defined her contribution to textile design.

Founders of Melbourne’s Spacecraft Studio, Stewart Russell and Donna O’Brien, set-up their first screen printing studio for Barbara in the mid 1980’s, a working relationship which continues to this day. Barbara Sansoni toys are exclusive to the NGV design store and Spacecraft.

We are collaborating with leading local and international artists, designers and makers to offer unique contemporary products. Each of these collaborations reveals a purposeful and innovative approach to materials and making.